


Tough Times, They Keep Coming

by lunarsilverwolfstar



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Drabble Collection, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Ficlet Collection, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-18
Updated: 2018-08-11
Packaged: 2019-06-12 09:24:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15336819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunarsilverwolfstar/pseuds/lunarsilverwolfstar
Summary: Unrelated hurt/comfort drabbles. Inspired bythis hurt/comfort prompt list.





	1. "Can you please come and pick me up?"

**Author's Note:**

> *peeks from the hole she's been hiding in* Hi, everyone. Hope y'all enjoy my two-cents of mostly post-s6 hurt/comfort drabbles, with the occasional s1-5 to mix things up. Basically, I'm just writing what comes to mind, trying to get back in the grove of writing. Title inspired by P!nk's "Beautiful Trauma."

“Can you please come and get me?”

Felicity felt like she had been sucker punched. If she didn't have such a tight grip on her phone, she would have dropped it. Her ears rang, everything becoming hard and soft all at once. The words echoed in her head, sounding so far away, but there they were. Trying to stay upright, she leaned against the desk she'd been walking towards. As it was, she was having a hard time breathing.

“Hello? Felicity, are you there?”

Somehow she managed to find her voice, dry as her throat was, she croaked out, “If this is some kind of joke and you're not really Oliver, then so help me, I will find you and there will be hell to pay.”

There was a long pause in which she began to believe it really was all some elaborate hoax, but then, “It’s me, Felicity. I'm coming home.” After a short pause, he added, “But only if you can come and get me. What they gave me was hardly enough to cover a public phone call and train back to Star City.”

At that, she burst out laughing, bordering on hysteric. “I'm coming, baby,” she promised.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FYI, this is so not how I think things will go. It's just what came to mind as I put words on paper.


	2. "I'm at the hospital."

“Don’t panic, but I’m at the hospital.”

Oliver shot up from his chair, scrambling to grab his keys and wallet before heading out. He ignored his assistant’s question of where he was going, but caught Felicity’s sigh.

“Didn’t I just tell you not to panic?”

“You called me instead of texting. How am I not supposed to panic?”

“Well, we did talk about communicating better so here I am, trying.”

“That’s extremely unfair and you know it. You  _always_  know when I’m hurt before I can tell you. You’re in my ear and waiting at the bunker.”

“I didn’t mean it as a cheap shot. I know you’re trying. I have screenshots of all the emoji texts you sent me last week,” amusement colored her tone.

He chuckled, getting into his car. “So are you going to tell me why you’re at the hospital?”

There was a long pause in which he glanced at the dashboard to make sure he hadn’t lost signal. “I may have fainted,” she finally grumbled.

“ _Fainted_?" he questioned, alarmed. As long as he’d known Felicity, she had never just  _fainted_. He stepped on the gas a little harder.

“I’m sure it’s just stress, but Curtis was there. He was able to wake me up and insisted on bringing me. Something about you not letting him live if anything happened to me,” she teased.

Her good spirits at being stuck in a hospital helped him relax since he knew how much she hated them and, after informing her he’d be there soon, hung up.

The look on Felicity’s face when he entered the room had him before her in two strides. Cupping her face, he reminded himself to breathe as she gripped his hands and he took in her tear-filled eyes behind her glasses. “What’s wrong? What did the doctor say?”

It took her only a few seconds to respond, but to Oliver it might as well have been a lifetime. Even then, nothing could have braced him for the words that came out of her mouth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm usually not one to leave things open-ended, but I didn't want to go with the pregnant thing (though I can't wait for it to happen in canon), so I'll let things be unless I come up with some other inspiration. Could be as simple as stress. Or she IS pregnant and panicked or happy. Or she ISN'T pregnant and is upset or relieved. But that's a bit too much to explore on what's supposed to be mere drabbles/ficlets. Maybe one of the other prompts will allow me to continue this train, but for now, here we are...
> 
> (Considering the length of this note, I probably could have continued, LOL.)


	3. "Hey, don't do that, you'll hurt yourself."

"Hey, don't do that, you'll hurt yourself."

For half a second, Felicity fancied it was Oliver coming to scold her, but once her brain caught up with the actual voice, she hid her disappointment with a smile. "I'm fine, John. It's not  _ that _ heavy."

"Yes, but part of having friends working in law enforcement and secret agencies is that once in a while we can bend the rules."

"Like help friends entering witness protection move in?"

"Exactly." He took the box from her and placed it where she wanted.

"Thank you, John. I don't think I've said-" Her breath hitched. All her life, from the time her father left, she had learned to be independent, ready to take on the world. The first time she began to depend on someone, he'd left too. By choice. She learned to stick to herself from then on, but then she met Oliver and he not only opened a new world for her, but abated the loneliness she'd learned to ignore. She learned to open up and, years later, with friends she wouldn't otherwise have, they married. Only, once again, someone left her-  _ he _ left, by choice.

It may have been what he thought was for their own good, but-

She gasped out a breath and opened her eyes, startled to find John looking right at her with a concerned expression. Blinking, Felicity realized she was crouched close to the floor.

"Hey, it'll be alright. You can do this."

She was sure he was right and kept her negative thoughts to herself, the words she turmoiled over hurting worse than anything that could hurt her physically.


	4. "How long has it been since you slept?"

John Diggle wasn't scared of many things. He'd enlisted in the army at a young age, went overseas twice, went through his brother's apparent death, carried a torch for his brother's ex-wife, helped raise his nephew, didn't hesitate to pull a gun on his employer when he revealed himself to be the so-called ‘Hood,’ joined Oliver's mission, believed in what the man was doing, and even managed to remarry his wife and have a child with her.

So when the opportunity to visit Oliver in jail presented itself, of course he took it without hesitation. However, as he made his way through security, a wave of nervousness flooded him. He'd spent the entire month assuring and reassuring Felicity, William, and the rest of his family that Oliver would be alright, that he hadn't thought to brace himself for the visit. He barely managed to hold his gasp as he sat across Oliver through the thick glass that separated them. He gave himself a moment to take in his friend's appearance before picking up the phone that would allow them to communicate. John was certain he didn't manage to hide his grimace when Oliver picked up the phone and began with, "I'm okay, John."

Instead of asking about the black and blue bruises and red, shallow cuts marring his face, he focused on the dark circles under the familiar blue eyes and simply questioned, "How long has it been since you slept?"

Oliver laughed and, at the small glimmer of amusement still seen in his eyes, John was hopeful things  _ would_, in fact, be okay. 

**Author's Note:**

> FYI, this is so not how I think things will go. It's just what came to mind as I put words on paper.


End file.
